A national charity is hoping to bring about changes in the law to help the half a million people in the UK who are affected by autism
The National Autistic Society (NAS) has ramped up its legal campaigning with the launch of a new Autism Legal Network and is calling for cases with the potential to change the law.
Mark Lever, chief executive of the NAS, said: "The NAS is evolving. Last year we successfully secured the landmark Autism Act. However, in the current economic climate political campaigning is only going to become more difficult.
"The Autism Legal Network will play a key and strategic role in our future success. Championing the rights of people with autism through the courts will dramatically increase the reach and impact of our campaigning.
"We'll be working with lawyers to try and set legal precedents and create real and lasting change for people with this serious, lifelong and disabling condition."
In particular, the NAS is appealing for cases that will help to tackle the lack of help for the more than 70% of children with autism who also have a mental health problem. The call comes after the charity's You Need To Know campaign, published last month, found that mental health services failed to help two thirds of children with the condition.
The network plans to build on existing legal campaigning by the NAS, begun with the high profile case of Gary McKinnon. The NAS also intervened in the Supreme Court earlier this month in the A v Essex case, which successfully set a legal precedent over the right to education for all children with disabilities.
As a result of that case, councils which leave a child with autism without any education, risk being held by the courts to have breached that child's human rights.
The NAS Autism Legal Network is open to legal professionals, charities and academics with an interest in autism. For further information visit
www.autism.org.uk/legalcampaigning or email
legal.development@nas.org.uk.
Autism is a lifelong developmental disability that affects how a person communicates with, and relates to, other people. It also affects how they make sense of the world around them. It is a spectrum condition, which means that, while all people with autism share certain difficulties, their condition will affect them in different ways. The NAS provides a wide range of services to help people with autism and Asperger syndrome live their lives with as much independence as possible. For more information go to
www.autism.org.uk.
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